Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Military or civil, triplanes, biplanes or monoplanes, props, jets or helicopters...models in here.
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

Following on from the fairly straightforward and "modern" injection moulded DC-4, I decided to have another stab at a vac form. My last attempt failed miserably but hopefully this one will get to the end.

The kit in question is Welsh Models' Handley Page Herald. It is essentially all vac form with the exception of the engines which are cast in resin. Propellers, undercarriage etc are in white metal;. Aerials will need to be made from scrap plastic and stretched sprue.

The kit comes with a nice decal sheet for Channel Express who were one of the last users of the Herald, operating them on freight and newspaper flights into the 1990s. However, I wanted to do mine in a more nostalgic (for me) scheme.

The Heralds of BIA were a common sight at Dublin Airport all through the 1970s when I was a keen spotter. Indeed, the very same aircraft had been common for a large part of the 1960s as well when they operated in British United Island Airways colours. I'm going to complete it in BIA colours.

The 2-6 Decal Sheet shown below contains registrations for all the Heralds BIA operated in the red scheme. The colour instructions are not quite accurate although from what I can see from looking through as many colour pictures I could find on the internet, no two BIA Heralds were painted identically. Some BIA Heralds also had the black and white striped propeller blades which were tried on a number of aircraft in the 1970s - so I'm tempted to do one of those.
The smaller sheet shown underneath is the original Welsh Models decal sheet that they originally included with the Herald when it was first released well over 30 years ago. I'm tempted to keep this to one side for use on a BIA DC-3 project.

I always had a soft spot for the Herald which I looked on as the plucky British underdog to the much more successful Fokker F-27 Friendship which outsold the Herald by a factor of about 20 to 1.

I had cut out the main components ages ago but here's some pictures of the assembly work so far.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
ShaunW
NOT the sheep
Posts: 26118
Joined: November 26th, 2011, 6:11 pm
Location: Pontefract West Yorkshire

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by ShaunW »

A good start, Eric. I have a Welsh Models B-757 in the stash which is a mix of vac/injection moulded parts in a similar vein to your Herald and I have to admit that it is the vac part of the kit that has so far put me off, stupid really but there you go. Hopefully this build will be a success for you.
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.

Work is the curse of the modelling classes!
IPMS#12300
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

I have a pile of Welsh Models vacform kits - some which will no doubt never get built - simply because people like Minicraft, Mikro Mir, F-RSIN and Roden are gradually working their way through Welsh Models old lists. I wouldn't be surprised if Mikro Mir don't produce a Herald before too long.
That should be an incentive to get this one finished.

I can hear those Darts whining in my head - calling me back to my workbench.
Lone Modeller
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 5249
Joined: April 1st, 2013, 6:45 pm

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Lone Modeller »

You are a braver soul than I - vacuforms are a genre that I have never had the courage to attempt.
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

In some ways, vac form 1/144 airliners are easier than a more traditional subject chiefly because, unless you are a glutton for punishment, you don't need to worry about detailing the cockpit.

I hope I don't have to eat those words.
celt
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 3235
Joined: July 6th, 2014, 3:19 pm

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by celt »

Lone Modeller wrote:You are a braver soul than I - vacuforms are a genre that I have never had the courage to attempt.
Ditto from me too.
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

Progress has been made.

The white metal propellers provided in the kit are not quite right for the Herald. Although they are the types used on some Dart engined aircraft (the F-27 and the HS748 for example), the Herald's propellers had rounded tips rather than squared off tips. So that needed correcting.

Image

The resin engines have now been attached to the wings - using superglue - and the resultant fairly large gaps filled and blended in. Next will be yet another coat of grey primer to check if further filling is required. Vacforms are all about filling, sanding, blending, priming and repeating that process until everything looks right.

Image
Lone Modeller
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 5249
Joined: April 1st, 2013, 6:45 pm

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Lone Modeller »

Well this is real progress. I am relly impressed with this progress - I doubt whether any words will need to be eaten.
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

Just to let people know that progress is ongoing. I'll post up an update tomorrow.
User avatar
Spaceowl
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 1081
Joined: July 1st, 2011, 8:41 am
Location: Middlesbrough, Peoples' Republic of Teesside

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Spaceowl »

Like I said, at sales performance issues aside, at least it looks nice! Congratulations on making a vac form kit look that good. I've always thought the work involved on vacs made them more of a test of character than of modelling.
Overhead a rainbow appears...in black and white.

Current Projects:
Aircraft of VMA-542, USMC
Peru-Ecuador War 1995
THK 1939-2023
Polish Air Force 1939
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

I'd hold off on any comments about the quality until it's finished.
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

Undercoating and priming is now in progress. The engines will also receive a coat of Tamiya Gloss Black as they will eventually be painted to represent a natural metal finish.

The control surfaces (ailerons, rudder, elevators) have been pre-shaded so that the corrugations have a better chance of standing out when the top coat of white and red gets applied. Black areas have been painted chordwise across the tailplanes because these had a black area painted on them to lessen the visibility of exhaust staining from the two Rolls Royce Darts.

In searching through numerous colour photographs of BIA Heralds, it is amazing how much variety there was in the application of what should have been a fairly standard colour scheme. Some of the aircraft had white painted engines and some had the engines left in their unpainted natural metal state. I've gone for the latter look as it makes the model a little more interesting.

Other differences can be seen in radio antenna fits.

Image

Image
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

Update - progress being made. Pictures to follow.
User avatar
gnomemeansgnome
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 5269
Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
Location: No Fun City

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by gnomemeansgnome »

Very cool work so far.
Ego no habeo consilium.

ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
User avatar
Eric Mc
Modelling Gent and Scholar
Posts: 4795
Joined: May 3rd, 2011, 8:27 am
Location: Farnborough, Hants

Re: Welsh Models 1/144 Handley Page Herald

Post by Eric Mc »

Here it is as it stands at the moment. The basic colours are on although there is a lot more detail painting and, of course, decaling to do. The tail colours will actually be a decal but I wanted a red tail as an underlay in order to ensure that the leading and trailing edges of the fin were properly coloured as I know from experience that there will be a gap in those locations when the tail fin decal is applied.

The next immediate task is paint the propellers in their characteristic chequered pattern and I will also need to paint the undercarriage legs and wheels. Another task will be to fabricate the undercarriage doors from plastic card.

Image

Image
Post Reply

Return to “Aviation Modelling”